Customizable modular lanyard system

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure is, in one aspect, directed to a customizable, modular lanyard system, which system includes a plurality of interconnectable sections that can be used to form a user customizable lanyard of a desired length and/or configuration. Each section of the plurality of interconnectable sections can have universal connectors at each of its ends. Each section of the plurality of interconnectable sections also can include a flexible material having at least one of a color, user selectable, design, or patterning and/or one or more graphic representations, themes, scenes, or character depictions. The system further can have a base that can be connected to the one or more of the universal connectors, which base can include a connector that allows for attachment of one or more articles to the user customizable lanyard.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present Patent Application is a formalization of previously filed,co-pending U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/396,982, filedSep. 20, 2016, by the inventors named in the present Application.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The specification and drawings of U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 62/396,982, filed Sep. 20, 2016, specifically incorporated herein byreference as if set forth in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to necklaces or lanyards, andin particular to a customizable, modular lanyard system that can be usedin a variety of configurations and can be customized with multiplevarying parts or sections according to user preferences.

BACKGROUND

Necklaces or lanyards, including simple cords or fabric strips have beenused for some time both as primarily decorative articles, such as in thecase of jewelry or costume jewelry, and, more recently for holdingbadges, tickets or other articles, suspended around the neck of awearer. For example, at many conventions or trade shows, the old-styleor traditional nametag in the form of a card pinned or clipped to aperson's shirt or jacket or a sticker with simple printing of a person'sname and company and/or other affiliation, has been replaced bynecklaces or lanyards that can be looped around the neck of a wearer,and also generally can include badge holders or pouches to hold tickets,ID cards, etc. At some conventions now, such as Science-Fiction and/orcomic conventions, it also has become commonplace for attendees to wearclothing with various character insignia and/or to even dress up, i.e.,as a Star Wars® Storm Trooper® or the like, and more and more, theattendees at these and even more conventional trade shows and/orconferences are expressing an interest in being able to personalizeand/or create their own looks to differentiate themselves and/orotherwise stand out from other attendees.

Accordingly, it can be seen that a need exists for a lanyard and/orsimilar system that addresses the foregoing and other related andunrelated problems in the art.

SUMMARY

Briefly described, in one aspect, the present disclosure relates to acustomizable modular lanyard system. The customizable modular lanyardsystem will include a series of interconnectable lanyard sections orpieces, typically formed from a fabric or other, similar flexiblematerial, and each of the lanyard sections also generally can be printedwith various graphics or themes. For example, the lanyard sections canbe printed with different movie or video game scenes, or with picturesof characters from a person's favorite movie, science fiction series,comic books, etc. Each lanyard section further will include a connectorat each end thereof. The connectors can comprise universal typeconnectors, rather than requiring male and female type connection parts.As a result, the ends of each of the lanyard sections can be connectedto a variety of different lanyard sections. Each end of a lanyardsection further can be connected to itself so as to form a smaller loopsuch as for use as a bracelet.

A series of selected lanyard sections can be connected together, basedon user preference in terms of design, as well as length, so as tocreate a customized lanyard of a desired length for the user. At a lowerend of the lanyard, a lanyard base can be connected. One or morearticles also can be attached, such as by a spring loop, ring, snap orother connectors, to the base; or alternatively, an additional lanyardsection simply can be looped through a ring or slot in the article(s)and its end connectors attached to the connectors of the base or toadjacent lanyard sections. In addition, the customizable modular lanyardsystem further can be designed/customized by its wearer through the useof slidable charms that can be placed on one or more of the lanyardsections and can be slidable along the length thereof. For example,decorative pieces such as a shield (e.g., a Captain America® shield), abanner, or other decorative ornamentation can be mounted on the slider,which further can include a biased protrusion, an adjustable clip orother, similar mechanism to fix the slider in place as needed.

These and other advantages and aspects of the embodiments of thedisclosure will become apparent and more readily appreciated from thefollowing detailed description of the embodiments taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, as follows. In addition, those skilledin the art further will appreciate and understand that, according tocommon practice, the various features of the drawings discussed beloware not necessarily drawn to scale, and that the dimensions of variousfeatures and elements of the drawings may be expanded or reduced to moreclearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention describedherein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

It will be understood that the drawings accompanying the presentdisclosure, which are included to provide a further understanding of thepresent disclosure, are incorporated in and constitute a part of thisspecification, illustrate various aspects, features, advantages andbenefits of the present disclosure, and together with the followingdetailed description, serve to explain the principals of the presentdisclosure. In addition, those skilled in the art will understand that,accordingly, in practice, various features of the drawings discussedherein are not necessarily drawn to scale, and that dimensions ofvarious features and elements shown or illustrated in the drawingsand/or discussed in the following Detailed Description may be expanded,reduced or moved to an exploded position in order to more clearlyillustrate the principles and embodiments of the present disclosure asset forth herein.

FIG. 1 generally illustrates a customizable modular lanyard system inone example embodiment, illustrating the interconnection of the lanyardsections and the use of at least one lanyard section as a bracelet.

FIG. 2A is an exploded front view schematically illustrating oneembodiment of the customizable modular lanyard system and variouscomponents thereof to form a user customized lanyard.

FIG. 2B is a perspective view of the assembled lanyard of FIG. 2A.

FIG. 2C is a front view of the assembled lanyard of FIG. 2A.

FIG. 2D illustrates a perspective interconnection of a lanyard base tothe ends of a pair of lanyard sections to complete the lanyard such asillustrated in FIG. 2A.

FIG. 2E is a perspective view illustrating the universal attachmentclips.

FIGS. 3A-3D generally illustrate the slider for slidably mounting acharm or other decorative article along one or more of the lanyardsections.

FIGS. 4A-4D illustrate example charms that can be mounted on the sliderof FIGS. 3A-3D.

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate additional views of the customizable modularlanyard system according to the principles of the present invention,wherein various different printed lanyard sections are provided, as wellas slider charm(s) and various example embodiments of lanyard bases orconnections that can be used, such as for connecting a badge holder tothe lanyard.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1-5B generally illustrate various example embodiments of acustomizable, modular lanyard system 10 according to the principles ofthe present invention. It should be understood that while the lanyardsystem 10 has been illustrated in the various figures with variousprinted scenes, characters or other decorative views, and variouslanyard sections 11 are illustrated with varying or different lengths,such decorative depictions and lengths/sizes/configurations are merelyfor illustrative purposes and should not be viewed as limiting thepresent customizable, modular lanyard system. Rather, as will beunderstood by those skilled in the art, various lanyard sections 11 ofthe customizable, modular lanyard system 10 can be used and connectedtogether to form a variety of different, user customized lanyard designswithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

In one example embodiment, as illustrated generally in FIGS. 1-2C and5A-5B, the customizable, modular lanyard system 10 will include a seriesof lanyard sections or pieces 11 that will interconnect together to forma completed lanyard L. Each of the lanyard sections 11 can be providedwith a varying and/or user selectable length, and further can beprovided in varying sizes and/or widths as desired, in order to meetuser preferences and/or to provide the users/wearers with more choicesor selections for greater customization. Each of the lanyard sectionsalso generally can be formed from a fabric or other, similar flexible,non-stick and/or non-scratch type material that can be dyed or printed.For example, as indicated in FIG. 1, each of the lanyard sections 11 canbe provided with a different color such as blue, yellow, red, etc.Alternatively, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the lanyard sections can beprinted with various graphic representations, themes, scenes, orcharacter depictions 13 from movies, video games, science fictionseries, or various other, different scenes or looks. FIG. 5A shows anexample of various scenes or screen depictions from the MINECRAFT® videogame; while alternatively, FIG. 5B shows lanyards L having lanyardsections 11 with varying pictures or graphical representations 13, forexample, with scenes from a comic book or a video game such as the“Legend of Zelda®”.

In addition, the lanyard sections 11 can be customized further such asby placement of stickers, appliques or similar decals or embellishmentsthat can be applied and attached, such as adhesively or by applicationof heat. As another alternative, users could select various graphicssuch as from an online website, or at the convention itself, order andhave their own customized looks and/or printed scenes or otherdecorative effects created on a series of lanyard sections for formingand/or matching such sections to make their personalized lanyards L.Still further, the lanyard sections can be selectively printed withvarious thermochromic and/or photochromic inks and/or have appliqueswith such printing or inks so that they can change colors in differentlight conditions or upon contact with a person's body, to provide evenmore variation.

As further illustrated in FIG. 2B, the lanyard sections 11 can beprovided with a length that can be made adjustable, and/or each sectioncan be of a length so as to allow one or more such lanyard sections tofurther act as a bracelet B (FIG. 1), either by looping and connectingits ends 11A/11B or with multiple wrappings. As a result, a user cancreate a matching bracelet B, such as by simply shortening their lanyardL by removing one or more of the sections 11 and connecting the oppositeends 11A-11B of such removed section(s) as a bracelet.

As illustrated in FIGS. 2A-2E, each lanyard section can include auniversal connector or clip 15 at each end 11A/11B thereof. Theuniversal connectors 15 are illustrated in one embodiment in FIGS. 2Dand 2E, and can include a body 16 with a pair of flexible tongues orprojecting prongs 17 connected or fixed thereto, which tongues/prongs 17each can include a protrusion or protuberance 18 in a top or bottomsurface thereof. The universal connector body 16 further will includeone or more slots, openings, or recesses 16A, such as a pair of slots,or any other suitable number of slots, e.g., 3, 4, 6, etc., that aresized, configured, and/or arranged to at least partially receive thetongues/prongs 17. The universal connector body 16 also can include oneor more biasing tabs 19 that are located substantially adjacent to atleast one of the slots 16A, and when the tongues/prongs 17 are at leastpartially received in the slots 16A, the tabs 19 may at least partiallyengage at least a portion of the tongues/prongs 17 and/or the protrusion18 positioned therealong. In addition, or in the alternative, the tabs19 can engage a complementary recess or other suitable feature definedin or positioned along the tongues/prongs 17. As a result, the universalconnectors simply can be urged together, whereby their prongs or tongues17 will slidably engage each other and/or tabs 19 in a frictional,interlocked engagement to hold the lanyard sections 11 together. Forexample, when corresponding universal connectors are urged together, thepair of prongs/tongues 17 can be at least partially received withincorresponding slots or openings 16A, and the protrusions 18, or recessesor other features, in the prongs/tongues can be brought at leastpartially into contract or engagement with the biased tabs 19 tosubstantially hold or secure the prongs/tongues within theslots/openings 16A. The universal connectors further generally can bedesigned with a desired breakaway strength, for example, approximatelythree to approximately six pounds, although greater or lesser breakawaystrengths can be provided, so that if the lanyard is grabbed or caught,the sections 11 will separate easily, e.g., to avoid injury to thewearer. In addition, or alternatively, other types of universalconnection mechanisms, including magnets or other, similar type ofconnectors also can be used.

FIGS. 2A-2B and 6A illustrate an example embodiment of a lanyard base 20that can connect to the ends 11A/11B of a pair of lanyard sections 11 tocomplete the lanyard L and connect or secure other articles thereto. Inone embodiment, the lanyard base 20 can include a body 21 which caninclude a series of slots or connection openings 22 (FIG. 2D) adapted toreceive one or more of the tongues or protrusions 17 of the universalconnectors of the pair of lanyard sections 11, with biasing tabs 19along selected parts thereof such as illustrated generally in FIG. 2A,and further can include a D-ring or other type connector 23 at itsdistal end 24. In some embodiments, as also illustrated in FIG. 2A, asnap, clip, hook, or other, similar connector 26 also can be mounted tothe base 20, such as by the D-ring 23, including being pivotally mountedto the ring so as to enable the hook to swivel and/or pivot in multipledirections. The clip hook 26 also can comprise a spring biased clip/hookor clasp, such as illustrated in FIGS. 2A-2D and 5A, to enableconnection to a badge holder 28 (such as shown in FIG. 5B) and/or otherarticles. The articles can include carriers, such as envelopes, pouches,other rigid or flexible receptacles, or other suitable carriers; signs,such as name tags, identification placards, or posters or other itemscontaining identification or other suitable information; event passes,such as tickets, vouchers, or other authorization documents; and/orornamental items, such as pieces jewelry, medallions, charms, trinkets,ornaments, etc., though any suitable articles or items can be attachedto the lanyard sections or base without departing from the presentdisclosure. The badge holder 28, which can include a plastic sleeve orsimilar article for holding a ticket or tag T, further can be clipped orhooked onto the lower end of the lanyard L, by a simple spring clip orO-ring, including an additional lanyard section simply being loopedtherethrough and connected via its universal end connectors toadditional lanyard sections 11.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 5A, 5B, decorative charms 30 also can beattached and/or slidably located along one or more of the lanyardsections 11. The charms 30 can include various characters, articles orother decorative items such as a MINECRAFT® pig (FIG. 4A); a sword andshield or cape as shown in FIGS. 4B and 4D, or a figure, such as “SuperMario®” from the Nintendo games, as illustrated in FIG. 4C. Other typesand designs of decorative charms also can be used.

The charms 30 generally can be mounted to a slider 31 (FIG. 3A) formounting along a lanyard section (as shown), and can be attached theretoin a variety of ways, including by adhesives or other types of permanentattachments; or further can be simply clipped or attached to a slider 31by a releasable connector F such as a magnet, a snap fastener, hook andloop fasteners or other type fastener, and/or even by the use of somereleasable adhesive materials. For example, FIG. 3A shows a side view ofa charm 30 being mounted to a slider 31. In one embodiment, the sliders31 each generally can comprise a body 32 with an upper surface 33against which the charm is mounted, and a lower or bottom portion orpart 34, with a channel or recess 36 defined therebetween. A gap oropening 37 also can be provided in the lower or bottom portion 34, toenable the slider to be fitted onto the lanyard, even after the lanyardhas been assembled. As further generally illustrated in FIGS. 3A and 3D,at least a portion 34A of the bottom part 34 of the slider generally isbiased inwardly toward the front portion, and further can include aprojection or button 38 that will bear against a lanyard section towhich the slider (with the charm attached thereto) is mounted. This cancreate a frictional engagement between the projection of the slider 31and the lanyard section that generally will be sufficient to hold thecharm 30 in a desired position or location along the lanyard section,while also enabling the sliding movement of the lanyard charm along thelanyard section, such as generally illustrated in FIGS. 1, 5A and 5B.

Each of the charms can be made of a plastic or synthetic material, suchas a silicone or similar plastic material. In some embodiments, however,other types of charms, such as die cast metal charms or the like, alsocan be used. The slider body further generally can be made from aplastic material, although other types of materials also can be used,and typically also can have a reduced profile and/or size so as to be asunobtrusive as possible when mounting a charm to a lanyard section.

In use, for example, at a convention or trade show, a variety ofdifferent printed or decorative lanyard sections can be provided as cana series of different decorative charms. Users can simply select fromthe variety of different lanyard sections provided to create their ownpersonalized, and/or customized lanyard L. Users can also selectdifferent length or size and different numbers of lanyard sections tocreate varying or different length lanyards as desired, and further alsocan select additional lanyard sections or utilize one of theirpreviously selected lanyard sections as a complementary bracelet. Eachof the lanyard sections will interconnect using the universal connectorsat their ends to form a user customized lanyard of the desired length,with the distal ends of the bottom lanyard sections being connected to alanyard base so as to close and form the completed lanyard with thelanyard base and its associated connector(s) at the bottom thereof. Thewearer can clip their badge holder or other articles to the bottom ofthe lanyard, such as illustrated in FIG. 5B. They can also remove alanyard section and use it as a complimentary bracelet B as shown inFIG. 1.

In an alternative embodiment, users could select, such as online beforethe convention or at the convention itself using a terminal or kiosk,various designs to be used or printed for their lanyard sections. Thesections can be preprinted and a personalized lanyard assembled andmailed or provided on-site for each user or attendee, or could beprinted or otherwise customized on-site. For example, screen-printing ofthe lanyard sections could be done on-site, or the lanyard sectionscould be provided with more generic backgrounds or scenes andheat-activated appliques or stickers selected and applied to the lanyardsections as desired by the wearer/user.

In addition, users can select and attach one or more charms, which canbe slid and located at a desired position along a lanyard section. Userscan select from available charms that they can use, or can bring theirown charms which can be quickly and detachably mounted to a slider forslidable attachment to their lanyard.

Accordingly, it can be seen that the present disclosure provides acustomizable and modular lanyard system that enables users to select andpersonalize or customize their lanyards or badge holders to provide amore personalized look and appearance.

In addition, while the foregoing description generally illustrates anddescribes various embodiments of the present disclosure, it will,however, be understood by those skilled in the art that various changesand modifications can be made to the above-discussed construction of thepresent disclosure without departing from the spirit and scope of thedisclosure as disclosed herein, and that it is intended that all mattercontained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawingsshall be interpreted as being illustrative, and not to be taken in alimiting sense. Furthermore, the scope of the present disclosure shallbe construed to cover various modifications, combinations, additions,alterations, etc., above and to the above-described embodiments, whichshall be considered to be within the scope of the present invention.Accordingly, various features and characteristics of the presentdisclosure as discussed herein may be selectively interchanged andapplied to other illustrated and non-illustrated embodiments of thedisclosure, and numerous variations, modifications, and additionsfurther can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What we claim is:
 1. A customizable, modular lanyard system, comprising:a plurality of interconnectable sections that are connectable to form auser customized lanyard of a selected length and/or configuration,wherein each of the plurality of interconnectable sections comprises aflexible material having at least one of a color, user selectable,design, or patterning and/or one or more graphic representations,themes, scenes, or character depictions; a series of universalconnectors each disposed at an end of each of the plurality ofinterconnectable sections, wherein the universal connectors areconfigured to releasably couple to one another to form the usercustomized lanyard of the selected length and/or configuration; and abase having a body configured to receive and releasably connect to theone or more of the universal connectors so as to attach the base to atleast one section of the plurality of interconnectable sections, thebase further comprising a connector that is configured to releasablyattach one or more articles to the user customized lanyard.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein one or more sections of the plurality ofsections comprise a varying length, size, and/or width.
 3. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the flexible material comprises a fabric material. 4.The system of claim 1, wherein each universal connector comprises a bodyhaving a pair of flexible projecting portions extending outwardly,recesses configured to receive at least a portion of a correspondingflexible projection portion therein, and one or more biased tabs definedin the body substantially adjacent the recesses, and wherein theuniversal connectors are connected by moving the flexible projectingportions of a pair of universal connectors into the correspondingrecesses and into frictional, interlocked engagement with one or more ofthe biased tabs.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein at least one of theflexible projecting portions comprises a protrusion disposed therealong,and wherein the protrusion is at least partially engaged by a biased tabwhen its projecting portion is moved into a corresponding recess ofanother universal connector.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein theuniversal connectors each comprise a breakaway strength of approximately3 lbs. to approximately 6 lbs.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein theconnector of the base is pivotally mounted thereto to enable the one ormore articles to swivel and/or pivot in multiple directions.
 8. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the one or more articles attached to theconnector includes a carrier, a badge, a placard, a pass, and/or one ormore ornamental items.
 9. The system of claim 1, further comprising aseries of decorative charms configured for attachment to one of thesections of the plurality of interconnectable sections.
 10. The systemof claim 9, wherein each charm of the series of decorative charms ismounted to a slider, the slider comprising a body having a first partincluding a surface to which the charm is mountable, a second part, anda channel defined between the first part and the second part, whereinthe channel is configured to at least partially receive at least aportion of the one or more sections of the plurality of interconnectablesections such that the slider is movably attached thereto.
 11. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein the second part of the body of the slidercomprises a gap for receipt and movement of the portion of the sectioninto the channel, and at least one projection adapted to bear againstthe portion of the section received within the channel and to which theslider mounted to generate a frictional engagement sufficient to holdthe charm in a desired position or location along the section, whilealso enabling sliding movement of the charm therealong.
 12. The systemof claim 1, wherein at least one section of the series ofinterconnectable sections is sized and/or configured to form a bracelet.13. A method of generating a user customizable or modular lanyard,comprising: receiving user selections of one or more designs, colors,patterns or indicia to be placed on one or more of a plurality ofmodular lanyard sections, wherein the one or more designs include one ormore specific colors, graphic representations, themes, scenes, and/orcharacter depictions; applying the user selected designs to the one ormore modular lanyard sections; and providing the one or more modularlanyard sections having the user selected designs applied thereon, tothe user, each modular lanyard section further comprising a universalconnector at an end thereof such that the sections are releasablyinterconnectable by the user to form a user customized lanyard having adesired length and/or configuration.
 14. The method of claim 13, whereinapplying the one or more designs comprises printing or dying the one ormore specific colors, graphic representations, themes, scenes, and/orcharacter depictions selected by the user onto the desired sections ofthe plurality of sections; adhesively or heat pressing stickers,appliques, decals, and/or embellishments containing the one or morespecific colors, graphic representations, themes, scenes, and/orcharacter depictions selected by the user onto the desired sections ofthe of the plurality of sections; or combinations thereof.
 15. Themethod of claim 14, wherein the one or more specific colors, graphicrepresentations, themes, scenes, and/or character depictions selected bythe user are printed onto the desired sections of the of the pluralityof sections and/or the stickers, appliques, decals, or embellishmentsapplied thereto with photochromic or thermochromic ink that changecolors in different light conditions or upon contact with at least aportion of a person's body.
 16. The method of claim 13, wherein theuser's selections are received at a kiosk or at an online website.